Insect cookbook now also available in English

Published on

March 17, 2014

Wageningen Scientists Arnold van Huis and Marcel Dicke and cooking instructor Henk van Gurp launched the English translation of the Insect Cookbook on Monday. They presented the first copy of the book to the upcoming President of Wageningen UR’s executive board, Louise O. Fresco.

Advantages of eating insects

During the book launch, author Arnold van Huis emphasized that eating insects has many advantages. Insects are much more efficient in turning nutrients into body weight, he argued, they also discharge less greenhouse gasses and require less land than conventional production animals. And contrary to what many might think, they do not lag behind in the taste-department. In a blind study where researchers replaced 50% of the meat in a meatball with ground meal worm, participants indicated that they preferred the meatball with insects.

How do you prepare an insect dish?

Arnold van Huis and Marcel Dicke have been actively promoting insects as a food source in western countries for several years, which has yielded them a lot of national and international attention. There was one question that kept returning though: “How do you prepare insect dishes?”. So they decided to join forces with Henk van Gurpen, a cooking instructor at the Rijn IJssel Hotel and Tourism School in Wageningen, to compile an insect cookbook. The book contains a large variety of recipes, ranging from Insect Burgers to Cupcakes with Buffalo worms and Chop Suey with grasshoppers.

More than just a cookbook

The book does not only tell you how to prepare insects, it also tells you where you can buy them and how to store them. The authors have also interviewed several influential people, such as former Secretary-General of the UN Kofi Annan and chef René Redzepi, about the importance of eating insects.